


Back Underground

by TwigstheShifter



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abduction, Death Threats, Drunkenness, Gen, Minor Character Death, Non-Consensual Groping, Panic Attacks, Post-Pacifist Route, Psychological Torture, Rape/Non-con Elements, Suicide Idealization, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Torture, google translate to spanish dialogue, possible gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-07-19 19:05:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7373812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwigstheShifter/pseuds/TwigstheShifter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After getting to the surface, the Skelebros have a really nice life. But when Papyrus trusts the wrong human, he gets hurt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everything is Awesome, Everything is Cool

Some humans will do anything for power. For fame. For money. The worst atrocities from the surface were fueled by this insatiable need. This beast that beckons the weak, and promises them whatever they desire. It doesn’t matter what they take. Who they hurt. If they kill. Anything to feed it.

When the monsters made it out of Mt Ebbot, they were in awe with how big the surface was. Human society had moved so much faster than them, everything was different from what was described in their history books. The hustle and bustle of the world was nothing like they had ever expected. Some loved it, some wanted to be away from it all. Monsters who had once been neighbors moved hundreds of miles away, while others clung together like children during a field trip.

Undyne and Alphys moved to the Silicon Valley, Asgore moved to a little farm in Idaho, Toriel hopped around the midwest before settling in Pennsylvania, Mettaton tried to make it in Hollywood but eventually went to New York and stayed there. The skeletons decided to move to the beach in Southern California, originally staying with Mettaton but moved to a sleepy little resort town down south when he went back east. They loved it there, Sans loved the lax attitude everyone seemed to have and Papyrus like the health culture. It was a little warm, but they acclimated to it pretty quickly. Monsters had a little bit of a stigma, but in the land of minorities, the skeletons thrived.

It had been difficult for the brothers to find jobs, but thankfully G had a pretty high transfer rate to USD. Eventually Papyrus got a job as a personal trainer, he wasn’t the best but man was he encouraging and inspirational; and Sans got a job as a lifeguard, his mostly stayed in the tower but when someone needed him his teleportation powers came in really handy. Papyrus and Sans liked their new life on the surface, but there was one thing that they didn’t quite get, no monster really did. It was the social conventions of humans. Monsters were trying to understand what to do to fit in, but many of them were naive.

Papyrus, for instance, didn’t understand what it meant when someone had a bat and told you to get into the car.

It was dark out when Papyrus had the urge to go patrol. He knew he no longer had to look for humans, he could spot them everywhere everyday, but it was so ingrained on him that he couldn’t break the habit. He quietly put his clothes on and tiptoed across the hall to check on Sans. His brother was on his bed with his laptop, playing some kind of videogame. Sans waved and motioned that he was playing with Undyne. Papyrus waved back and signaled that he was going out. Sans nodded and gave him the thumbs up. The tall skeleton picked his way through the living room and strapped on his boots before getting out onto the sidewalk.

Nearly no one was out at this time of day, let alone this time of year. It was March, by now the people who stay over winter had moved back home and the summer crowd hadn’t hit yet. The town had many empty houses, but Papyrus didn’t mind, the lone feeling was almost the same as the one back in Snowdin. He thought a lot about how things were before while he took his pat-walks, while he took his walks. Although there were a lot more things to do now, he still missed his hometown. He missed the snow and the trees, the traps he could set, the baked goods the inn keepers made, and oh my god Sans you lazybones you left that sock when we moved didn’t you?

Papyrus stopped and pulled out his phone to text Sans. He was grumbling as the connection was weak and kept knocking him off completely. He frowned as his 7th attempt failed, and he slipped his phone into his scarf...which fell into his battle body. He groaned when he couldn’t get it out and decided that he would just get it once he got back home. To make up for the time he lost while standing around getting frustrated, Papyrus cut down an alleyway between some vacant homes.

He had nearly reached the end of the alley when a man approached him from behind.

“Hey. Hey, yo!” 

“Nyeh? Yes, how can I be of service?” Papyrus turned to face the voice.

“Hey is there some sort of convention in town or something?” It was a little man carrying a baseball bat with a bandana around his face.

“No, sir! I am a genuine skeleton monster straight from the underground!” Papyrus exclaimed with a flourish.

“Oh good, that’s what I thought. Get in the van.” he motioned with the bat to the vehicle that was inching its way on the other side of Papyrus, blocking him in. 

“No I’m more than capable of getting myself home, but thank you for the kind offer!” the skeleton waved off and made a move to pass the small man.

The man smiled. Was this guy for real?

He blocked Papyrus’ way with the bat. “Get. In. The. Van. and no one gets hurt.”

“What?”

The man swung and caught Papyrus off guard. He was unconscious immediately and crumpled to the ground. Several men dressed in a similar way to the small man hopped out of the van and hauled the skeleton into the back. With him being out cold, Papyrus looked almost like a very realistic Halloween decoration. The posse climbed back into the car and drove off like nothing happened.


	2. The Murder Van

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Papyrus is in a van now, great.

When Papyrus awoke his vision was blurry, and he had a pounding headache. The skeleton was very sleepy still and felt weird. He tried to stretch but found that his hands were behind his back, secured within a ball of duct tape and feet were bound with zip ties in four different places. He blinked a few more times but the darkness in his vision wouldn’t go away, he tried shaking his head and the light shifted slightly. He smelled sweat, cheap air freshener, diesel fumes, his own fear, a old fear scent from another monster, moldy carpet, and burlap. Papyrus was more awake now and realized that he had a bag over his head and was in the back of a car, naked.

He heard someone shift in a seat in front of him, and whisper some words he didn’t understand. Whoever they were talking to must’ve understood them because someone unbuckled their seatbelt and climbed close to Papyrus.

“So, are you awake?” a calm, almost clinical voice asked. It was very different from the small man in the alley.

Papyrus kept track of how many people must be in the car with him, so far two were confirmed.

“Y-yes? I think I am.” Papyrus answered meekly, like a child who was in trouble at school.

“Good. I suppose you are wondering why you are here, or at least where you are”

A brown light flashed over Papyrus’ mask through the car window. They went over a bump.

“You are on your way to fame, skeleton. A monster like you is worth a pretty penny in the market.”

“Wh-”

“Shut up.” the voice commanded coolly. 

A hand hit Papyrus on the jaw, not hard enough to break it, but enough to force him to keep his jaw closed.

“I have been watching you for quite some time now. You are very strong, but” the hand stroked from the top of Papyrus’ head down to his lower spine, “I will make you stronger than you ever could imagine”.

He tried to scream, and instantly there was duct tape over his mouth. His insolence was met with a shove into the wall.

“You are lucky I am not trying to hurt you. Damaged goods are not worth as much, and I have put so much effort into you. I would never want my work to go to waste.”

The hand caressed his ilium. Papyrus tried to move away but there was nowhere to go, he was in a corner.

“Too bad the market for males is not as profitable.” the voice cooed.

“You are very sexy, for a monster.” it spit out that last word.

The hand lifted from Papyrus but the feeling was still buzzing in his bones, he heard the person slink back to their seat and the securing snap of the safety belt. They took a turn and Papyrus fell onto his face, he heard the bat rolling and a paper bag tip over. There was yelling in the seats ahead of Papyrus, he could distinguish four separate voices but none of them were speaking english. He wanted to cry, he wanted to get home, he wanted to cry and have Sans hug him and rub his back and…and. Tears were streaming down his face and soaking the bag. He couldn’t get up with his hands bound like they were, so he was stuck with his rear in the air and completely at the mercy of the other people in the car.

At some point the skeleton must’ve fallen asleep because he was being shaken awake violently now. The bag on his head was ripped frantically off, and the gag was removed in the same manner. Papyrus went to yelp but the person stuck their hand into his mouth. It was the small man from the alley.

“Shut it. You be quiet until this bell rings or I’ll kill you. Maybe worse, if white bread up there decides he can’t help himself.” the thug threatened.

Papyrus didn’t understand what he meant by that last part but he didn’t want anything to do with this ‘white bread’ man. He nodded aggressively in agreement.

“You’re gunna stay stiff when I tell ya to too, right?”

More nods, the skeleton was practically shaking.

“If anyone opens that door behind you, you don’t do anything. Got it?”

Papyrus was crying again.

“Don’t try any funny business” the man sneered and clamored back up to the front of the van.

Papyrus was silently crying in the back, and tried to survey the dark car through tears. He saw the humans at the front, and it turned out there were five. One leather colored one was looking at him from a seat that faced a giant door in the side, two dark colored humans were in a middle seat eating something and talking in that strange language, and in the very front was two cream colored humans that were completely stiff. He couldn’t be sure, but Papyrus guessed that the ‘white bread’ human was the one in the passenger seat. The skeleton shuddered.  
He looked out the grimy window, and he could see two big green signs. The one on the left said 'International Border, Frontera Internacional 1 ¼ mile = 2 km' and the one on the right said 'Camino de la Plaza LAST USA EXIT ¼ mile'. Papyrus had no idea what that meant but the words sounded like the ones his captors were saying. 

“Please Sans, please help me” Papyrus mumbled low enough that no one heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not the best at writing introductions, but I hope this chapter went well anyways! I'm getting into a groove and hopefully next chapter will be better! It probably will feature Sans, but I don't know yet
> 
> Also some new warnings, yay?


	3. Way to go Sans, Your Brother is on a Bruise Cruise to Mexico and You're at Home Playing Videogames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans finally gets off the computer and figures out that Papyrus is gone

Sans stretched and rubbed his face, he had been playing a co-op shooting game with Undyne since 5 o’clock that afternoon. Hey, it was his day off and he was going to enjoy it the way he wanted, which was being a lazy slob and doing nothing productive. He looked over and saw that his bag of cheetos was nearly empty, and that all he had drank that day was soda and energy drinks.

“Heh. Better drink at least one bottle of water today.” he chuckled quietly.

He decided that walking was too much effort so Sans just teleported into the apartment’s kitchen. He quietly made himself a sandwhich and stuck it in the microwave, he looked up at the cuckoo clock Papyrus insisted on having in the kitchen despite nearly all the appliances having a clock feature. It surprised him when the bird came bursting out with a blaring CUCKOO. It rang 4 times, marking 4 in the morning. This was strange because locking the bird’s door before bed was Papyrus’ job, considering that Sans could never reach it on his own.

Sans brow furrowed and he walked quietly over to the bedrooms. He pressed the side of his skull against his brother’s door but didn’t hear his usual snore. He opened the door slightly, not wanting to accidentally wake Papyrus in case he was sleeping. The room was completely empty. Sans walked quickly over to the noteboard by the door, but there was nothing new posted. He checked the key dish, nothing; he checked the shoe cubby, nothing; he texted Papyrus as well as Alphys and Papyrus’ workout buddies (who thankfully were all already awake) but there was either no answer or no news.

Sans was going to check one more place before calling the police. He teleported to cliff nearby, it was Papyrus’ favorite spot on the surface because it was so pretty and secluded. There was an abandoned lighthouse not too far to the left, the trees overtook themselves and knotted together to form a perfect shady spot, the grass was high and soft, a couple rocks were scattered here and there but there were two...one small and one large...that he and his brother liked to sit on and look at the ocean. From this vista you could see everything, and the ocean looked like it went on forever. Sans took a deep breath, went to the edge, got on his stomach, and looked down. There was nothing but jagged rocks and the distant hiss of the waves.

Sans sat back, partially relieved that Papyrus hadn’t accidentally run off the cliff and partially frantic that he didn’t know where he was. The frantic part was taking over. He was going to call his brother one last time and by god if he didn’t answer he was going to pop straight into the middle of the police department and fill out a report right then and there.

==========

Papyrus heard his phone go off, it was in a plastic bag next to the human who was watching him. The pleading look on Papyrus’ face must’ve gave him off. The human pulled the vibrating phone and gave it to ‘white bread’. With their face illuminated, Papyrus could see that the ‘white bread’ human was pleased. He shot a glance back at the skeleton.

“So, who is this Sans?” white bread asked nonchalantly.

Papyrus didn’t say a word.

“Oh, right, you are not supposed to talk unless Jose tells you. Jose.?” he purred.

The small man from the alley looked up at the man in the front seat, then glared at Papyrus.

“Go ahead and answer him, but don’t talk unless you’re spoken to by one of us, ok?” Jose growled

“There you go, monster, now tell me, what is your relationship with this Sans?” his voice was sickeningly sweet.

“Don’t do anything to Sans! Promise-”

“Oh no no no, you see, I am in the position of power here. I do not have to make your promises. I can do what I want. But, if you’re a good little male then I might grant a favor...eventually.” he sounded almost like he was trying to comfort Papyrus.

Papyrus tried to think of what to say that would keep Sans safe but wouldn’t be a lie. He didn’t want to do anything wrong, despite how bad these humans were behaving. He wondered for a moment if this is what Frisk felt when he captured them.

“Sans is a lifeguard at the beach that I’m friends with.” Papyrus decided would be far enough from him to stay safe.

“Strange name, Sans, it’s funny how your name and his name match. Almost like family” white bread was inspecting the phone, it wasn’t ringing anymore.

He was reading that texts Sans had sent to Papyrus, but hadn’t been read yet. Oh what a wonderful feature that was, to review what was missed without dealing with those pesky passcodes. Not that he couldn’t get past those as well, but that was a bit of a hassle that wasn’t necessary.

“He sure calls you ‘bro’ a lot, does he not?” white bread laughed.

“He is not my brother if that’s what you’re thinking!” Papyrus yelled.

White bread nodded and the man closest to the skeleton slapped him.

“Please refrain from yelling.”

“Guys shut the hell up we’re in line for border patrol.” the driver called.

“Ahh yes, everyone buckle up. Oh wait, I forgot. Hands?”

The man who had been watching Papyrus only broke his stare to look up.

“Knock him out.”

Hands jumped out of his seat and before Papyrus could react there was a cloth over his mouth and nose. This surprised him because he was expecting pain but, he was getting very sleepy now. Kinda dizzy too. He was out like a light just a few seconds later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You don't even know how badly I wanted to include 'bruise cruise to mexico'. The phrase 'booze cruise to Mexico' actually inspired this fanfic.
> 
> I promised Sans and I hope I delivered.


	4. Doot Doot Doot Doot Inspect your Gadget

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans finally goes to the police and Papyrus gets out of the van, but probably not in the best of circumstances.
> 
> Wow I'm terrible at naming chapters anything serious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What makes this worse is that I'm listening to really upbeat fun songs while writing all of this

Well that was it then, Sans would have to go to the police. He was standing across the street from the station, just staring at it, preparing himself. Even though everyone here at the beach was pretty chill, including the 5-0, they still had to do their job and they really weren’t lax about illegal food stands. He had to deal with them nearly on a daily basis working as a lifeguard, and knew most of the officers by name, but there was something about the police that just rubbed Sans the wrong way. He had to put that aside though, this was the best chance he had for finding his brother. He took in a deep breath and crossed the street, illegally of course because the crosswalk would add at least another 10 minutes.

A bell chimed as he opened the door, like a convenience store.

“Uh, hello?” Sans spoke into a weird circle in the middle of the window at the counter.

“Ahh, yes! Hello! How can we help you!” a chipper young girl called from behind a stack of papers.

“Um, my, uh, brother had gone missing.” Sans stuttered, why was he afraid to talk to this kid? Oh wait, that’s right, he remembered.

The girl’s face dropped immediately.

“...hang on a sec, I’ll be right back.”

She put down the papers on a clear spot on a desk then power walked through a door in the back. She turned around and raced to the counter with a clipboard in hand.

“Here, please fill this out to the best of your ability while I’m gone. If you’re not sure about something, just leave it blank. Thank you!”

She scooted the clipboard into a slot in the window then dashed back to the backroom. Sans sat on one of the ancient chairs and began to fill out the paperwork. Most of the questions were easy, like what he was wearing, but most were tough like ‘time of disappearance’. Oh god, if only he had been watching the clock. If only he had gone with him. He shouldn’t have let him go out at night. No, he couldn’t get too upset now, his handwriting was getting shaky and they wouldn’t be able to read it if he started… nope he was going to be a man about this. He was going to stay strong and melt into a puddle as soon as Papyrus was home.

“Mr. The Skeleton? Do you mind if we ask you a couple questions?” An officer walked into the waiting area, with the girl close behind.

==============

“Eyy yo, did you kill him?” Jose asked.

Papyrus was slightly awake, in that state of consciousness where you’re barely alive and will never remember what happens, like when you wake up from anesthesia.

“Oh no you didn’t, he’s moving. I’m sorry I doubted your expertise.” Jose said in a mocking tone.

Hands began to haul the skeleton out of the back, he was more bulky than heavy but it was still awkward to get him out. Hands decided to just drag him out and put him in the cart. They were in an underground parking garage type thing; white bread was talking to another man with a group of thugs around him, the driver and one of the guys who had been in the middle seat were with him. Hands managed to get Papyrus into the cart with relative ease, and began to secure him to it.

“Be careful with it, Hands. He’ll kill us if you damage the goods right as we finish the delivery.” Jose warned, gesturing towards the crowd of cohorts. 

Hands rolled his eyes and redid Papyrus’ restraints, though he thought by how the monster was reacting to the chloroform he wouldn’t need them for the next 20 minutes. 

“Jose? Hands? Could you please bring the monster over here? Our client has brought an inspector.” White bread called.  
They clamored over to their boss with the shopping cart, the rattles of metal against bone was loud enough to draw attention, if anyone cared.

“Quiet! We can wait the five minutes it would take for you to get over here without drawing the federales.” White bread hissed.

Hands and Jose did as they were told, and slinked over to their master.

“Just as promised, a six foot plus, male, rare skeleton monster. There’s no damage to his eyes so his magic should be fully functional, but as per our deal, that would be as is. Though you should be happy to know that his attack to defence ratio is rather high, and he has room to improve.”

The inspector looked over Papyrus, poking and prodding and testing him with instruments. 

“How tall is he really? Stand him up.” the buyer bobbed his head.

“Standing him up would require us to break his restrains, thus adding to the cost, and I simply agreed to six foot or higher. I recommend you check him once he’s in his enclosure.” White bread put his hands behind his back in a gentlemanly way.

The buyer frowned and looked to his inspector, who gave some kind of signal.

“He says the monster only has two defence points!” the buyer growled.

“Ahh yes, but he has eight attack.” White bread responded cooly.

“I ain’t gunna pay full price for him! I can’t fight with any major league with two fuc-”

“Language, Mr. Timothies” White bread scolded, “And you are too going to pay full price. Nowhere is it stated in our contract is there a base defence expectation. If you’re worried about getting your money back, I would not lose any sleep over it. He is very eager to please and willingly trains himself, he simply doesn’t do the proper defence training.”

“Really?” Timothies had calmed down a little.

“Yes absolutely. If you make it a puzzle he’ll do anything.”

Timothies leaned back a little and look at the skeleton in the cart. He had a thought and smiled.

“I really do need a dick sucker after that last one. Ok, deal.”

Mr. Timothies passed over the money, and gestured for his crew to take his new toy into the building. He slapped white bread on the back and started laughing. White bread thanked him for his business, bowed, and got back into his van.

“Do you still have that cup of ice, Ernesto?”

“S-yes”

“Good, if you will please hand it to me?”

Ernesto picked up the cup.

“I’m sorry it’s just water now.”

“Even better.”

Ernesto did as he was told and passed the flimsy cup of water to white bread. He thanked Ernesto and set it in the cupholder nearest to him. He started fumbling through his pockets for a minute before finding it. He held Papyrus’ phone up to the light to ensure it wasn’t his own before plopping it into the cup.


	5. Ok Things Are Getting Really Bad Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey Papyrus is awake again, oh wait, OH SHOOT.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey long wait, long chapter! So I've started college so updates will be slower, but I haven't given up on this. There will be an ending, but I'm not sure when that will be. I still have a couple disasters to put on Papyrus. Hopefully my next fic will be fluffy after all this

When Papyrus woke, for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day, he didn’t quite know where he was. He sat up, with eyes closed, and stretched against the ground like a cat. He was very confused why the ground felt cold, and why was there hay strewn about? His eyes were squinted, as they were normally when he first woke up after sleeping for too long, and he had a horrible taste in his mouth. He went to stand up, but his legs gave in and he fell onto the hard ground. There was a roar of laughter.

“What?”

Oh no he was having a nightmare where everyone was laughing at him for being clumsy. He couldn’t help it! He looked down and yep, he was naked too.

“Oh no.” he whispered.

He scrambled around the floor, looking for something to cover himself with. Not that there was anything to see, he was simply bones, not unlike the models seen at school. His efforts brought on more laughter, seemingly from all around him. He found a pile of hay near some bars, took it all, and backed up against the wall.

“Hey kid, don’t worry about that.” a gruff voice called from the other side of the bars.  
Papyrus yelped and scuttled away, more laughs.

“Hey guys shut it before y’all draw attention!” it yelled, silencing the uproar, before turning back to the skeleton “You’re new to the circuit, aren’tcha?”.

Papyrus curled up into himself and nodded.

“Thought so, I’m Tony but the master called me Raptor. Call me whatever.”

“Oh ok...why do you have two names?”

“Because ‘Tony’ doesn’t rake in the bets like ‘Raptor’ does. But that’s over for me, so I’m mostly here for practice.”

Tony placed an arm stub against Papyrus’ bars. He was finally close enough that he could actually get a good look at his neighbor. He looked very reptilian, with large 3-pointed spikes down his long body from his head to his tail tip, he had a rather small snout with two large canines protruding on either side, he also had external ferret like ears. When he shifted, Papyrus could see that Tony only had legs and the stub arb. Tony noticed that he was looking at his arm and chuckled.

“Yeah, don’t worry about that. A skeleton is rare, and I doubt master’s gonna risk something like this,” Tony raised his stub “happening to you.”.

“That’s not-”

A door opened and heavy footsteps could be heard. Tony scooted away from the bars and curled up with his back turned to Papyrus. He was slightly offended that his neighbor had done that, not only in the middle of a conversation but he thought he was making a friend. Someone flipped a light switch and dim, brown lights flickered on. It was a human, and they were walking towards Papyrus.

“Good morning, starshine.” they teased, “I hope with all that sleep you’re ready for your first day. Come up to the door.”.

The skeleton did as he was told, raising himself with the help of the bars then carefully walking over to the human. He held onto the bars for support.

“Heh. I guess you haven’t eaten in a while, and with the damage, and the tranqs…” the human thought to himself before speaking again, “come with me and if you do a good job you’ll get your food.”.

Papyrus didn’t realize how hungry he was until the human mentioned it.  
“Here, put this on and I’ll guide you to where you need to go.” they handed over a collar and a leash.

The human was dumbfounded as they watched Papyrus put on the collar without a second thought. Wow, Mr. Timothies really had no idea how good of a deal he had made, only dogs followed orders this well. They opened the cage door, and gestured for the leash handle. He let out a chuckle of disbelief when the skeleton gave it over.

“Good boy, now let’s go.”

‘Wowie’ Papyrus thought, ‘this place is a lot nicer than that van already! Maybe they’ll even help him find his way home!’

==========

“And that’s all I know, Officer.” Sans finished.

“Thank you, this will definitely help in our investigation. I’m glad you didn’t wait the 24 hours TV makes you think you have to, the first 48 are the most important during any missing, uh, persons case. If he shows up, just give us a call, you won’t be in trouble.” the police reassured.

“Ok, thanks.” Sans sighed.

“It’s no problem, just wait at home and try to take care of yourself, alright? Maybe have a friend come over?” a female officer rubbed his back.

“Heh, yeah I’ll try.” Sans stood up and walked out of the station.

The apartment wasn’t too far, and he had a lot on his mind, so Sans decided to walk home. The surface was a big place, and humans aren’t always friendly to monsters. Every night there was something on the news about violence against monsters, but they were usually downtown. Where they lived was just about the safest place they could be, Sans made sure of that. Papyrus had always been a wanderer, there were just more places to go here, that’s all. It was nighttime and Papyrus had probably taken a wrong turn, he was clumsy like that. Or maybe...there was that drainage ditch not to far nearby that wasn’t gated at that one point, no he couldn’t think of that.

Papyrus is fine, he’s just someplace he hasn’t looked yet. He hasn’t even been gone 12 hours, so he could just be around the neighborhood somewhere. How far can one skeleton go in less than half a day by himself?

==========

Papyrus was led down a hallway, it was better lit and the ground actually had proper flooring, well concrete. There were 4 doors that he could see, one at the very end that looked rather nice with a brass knob, a less friendly one that had a frosted window with bars over it, one that was unassuming but had water leaking out of it, and the one he was being led into that had a wide opening and a heavy metal door. He shuffled inside to find that there was a second door with bars that ran from the ceiling to the floor, Papyrus found it strange that there had to be two doors with such fortification. The man pressed a code into a number pad next to the barred door, and when it opened there was another human waiting. The sudden appearance made Papyrus jump, but he regained his cool quickly. The man who had led him there handed over the leash to the human in the room, and pat the skeleton on the shoulder as he left.

“Hello.” Papyrus waved.

“So you’re the new asset? Hmmm.” they examined him, “Not much to ya, huh?”

“The Great Papyrus has many positive at-”

“The Great Papyrus? That’s your stage name? That’s hilarious.” they laughed.

They turned around and grabbed up something.

“Here put this on, I don’t think you’ll need it but you’re making me uncomfortable.” they shoved his shorts into his hands.

“My clothes! Do you happen to have the rest?” Papyrus asked as he put them on.

“We’re getting your armor cleared with the assholes, but I do have this.” they held up his scarf, “But you’ll get this when your defence is up to snuff.”

“Oh ok, um...well I was going to agree properly but I don’t know what to call you.”

“For now, call me Perito.” they smiled.

Perito clicked their tongue and pulled on Papyrus’ leash. He was jerked forward, but stayed in place.

“Come.” Perito commanded.

Papyrus obeyed and followed them to a enclave in the wall.

“Stay until I tell you to go.”

He stood in the middle of the space, and watched as Perito lowered a gate in front of him. He was locked in like a racehorse, and his heart pounded. Papyrus didn’t like being behind any sort of bars, people asked if he had claustrophobia once or twice but he denied it, maybe he really did. He was fidgeting, and his heart started racing, adrenaline pumping. Perito noticed, and slowed their progress, fear was good in this business. If Papyrus could move, he’d be pacing. There was a distinct click, and Perito strung some rope along a red line painted on the ground.

“Ok, this is defence training, don’t hold back but don’t kill each other. Remember to check their stats.” Perito said as they flicked on the lights.

Tony was standing opposite to Papyrus. Tony shrugged and rolled his shoulders, then checked his opponent. 

“Wuh-TWO?” Tony snapped to Perito, “You’re giving me TWO HP to work with?”.

Perito nodded and pressed a button on the wall. It opened the gates and rang a bell, just like at a racetrack, Perito started a counter.

“I-I don’t want to fight.” Papyrus pled.

“Too bad, I do.” Tony barreled towards the skeleton.

He dodged Tony’s attack, and saw him skid across the dirty concrete ring. Tony took the inertia from that attack, and turned to charge again. Papyrus jumped over him, causing him to get frustrated. He circled around the skeleton this time.

“The only way you’ll get this to stop is if you hit me, so hit me. I don’t care, it won’t hurt.” Tony growled through gritted teeth.

“N-no I c-” 

Tony kicked his leg out, scratching Papyrus, causing him to lose .5 HP.

“C’mon fight, weakling.”

Papyrus started crying and summoned a bone and threw it at Tony. It missed but nearly hit Perito

“I’m not weak!” he wailed.

Perito jumped into the ring and grabbed the collar around Papyrus’ neck. They flung him into the gate.

“Stop crying.” they yelled.  
Papyrus tried to muffle his cries.

“In a real fight, a stunt like that would get you killed. And you can’t let your attacks leave the ring.” they barked, “What kind of worthless skeleton are you that you won’t fight even when threatened?”

Papyrus turned his head so he didn’t look at Perito.

“We’re done for now. We’ll try again in a few hours.”

They snapped the leash back into place and tied him to the gate. Perito left but could be heard speaking into something, asking for transport. Papyrus whined, and looked at his neighbor.  
Tony was obediently waiting in the alcove across the ring, with his back turned outward. ‘Transport’ was here now, and it was the guy who had taken him here. He untied Papyrus’ lead and took him out into the hallway, but instead of going back to the cages, he went right.

“Where are we going?” Papyrus timidly asked.

“You have to be punished for not fighting back, you’re going into solitary.” he huffed, sounding genuinely upset he had to do this.

He opened a door, and Papyrus was momentarily blinded by the bright light. He could smell sawdust, spicy food, and something coppery-vinyl. His leash was tugged, and he followed like a good dog. A wave of fear scent hit him. He started pulling his leash in the other direction but the man had better traction on the ground and kept going. Papyrus could see properly now and he was in the middle of a sawdust covered pit surrounded by stadium seats.

Papyrus was whining loudly, and was told to stop. The man tried to lead him into a small room with a gate instead of a door, he knew why that was now and was not going in. He spread his long limbs against the outside of the door, and wouldn’t budge. Someone whistled and knocked a pole against the back of Papyrus’ knees. He fell into the room, and heard the gate slam behind him. He got up and, to his dismay, the gate was inescapable unlike the training one. 

The transport guy felt had really liked Papyrus and his eagerness. He unclipped the leash from the collar around the skeleton’s neck. Papyrus even whined and pawed against the human’s hand, he had been the only one to not be mean to him in this place. The man stood up.

“I’m so sorry, I-” a bell rang, “I have to go, the match is about to begin… try not to watch.”

He patted the gate, and jogged across the ring, to safety.


	6. Meet Me in the Pit in 5 Minutes for an Ass Beating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hooooooly Moly here comes the pain, I'm so sorry Papyrus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I'm not a Spanish speaker so I used Google Translate for all the dialogue en espanol. If there's any errors please let me know, and please report it to Google Translate as well.

Papyrus could hear the shuffling of feet far away from him, and a clacking sound closer to him. He had his back turned to the gate, trying his best to follow the transport guy’s advice, though he didn’t know why he shouldn’t watch. At the gym that he had worked at there were plenty of ‘matches’ and he knew exactly how they went down, the people would spar for a few minutes and whoever landed the most hits won. Maybe it was cheating for him to look. 

‘Wait,’ he thought ‘Was Perito just trying to get me to spar with Tony? Well, if so I wish they would’ve told me. I would happily have practiced with him!’

Papyrus moved his legs, forgetting that they had been hit, and instantly regretted it. He hummed through the pain, not wanting to draw attention. He leaned against the wall, panic setting in as the walls seemed to be getting closer. He started breathing deeply, and focused on rubbing his knees. A siren blared and the lights went out, this sent Papyrus scrambling against the wall next to him. He leaned his back against the gate as a hiss escaped his clenched jaw.

A speaker crackled to life somewhere above Papyrus.

“Bienvenidos! Bienvenidos, por favor, y tomen asiento! La lucha está a punto de comenzar!”

There was an uproar at that, and the skeleton was shaking, trying to get as small as his large frame would allow. He had no idea what that meant, and he couldn’t tell if those cries were out of excitement or anger. All he knew was that he was not safe, and he was scared. 

“La defensa para esta noche se llama...Gnasher!”

There was a thunk and a faint scraping of claws against metal. More screams.

“El retador es Trituradora!”

Another thunk, this time Papyrus could hear someone hyperventilating. He wasn’t sure if it was this Carne fellow or himself.

“Apuestas para este partido están cerrados. Así que sin más preámbulos, ¡que comience la batalla!”

A bell just like the one in the training room rings, and Papyrus could hear people running behind him. He was determined not to look because whatever was happening, he could smell the fear scent of monsters stronger than he ever had before. He was terrified and tried to muffle the sounds of anguish coming from behind his back, he wanted so badly to not be aware of what was behind him. Something crashed against his gate and he cowered, pulling his stinging knees up to his chest. He felt a wetness on his back, and the copper-vinyl smell filled his space. He wiped his hand across his shoulder blade, then brought his hand in front of his face. Papyrus screamed when he saw it was blood.

He whipped around to check if it was his, and got an eyeful of what was happening at the exact wrong moment. The stadium was filled with people jumping excitedly, the saw dust was everywhere including floating gently to the ground and there were two monsters in the middle. The smaller of the two had his jaws deep in the neck of the other and was tugging on their victims obviously dislocated arm, every tug eliciting a cheer from the audience. The monster released its prey, only to stomp on the wound. There was a shriek, but it was cut off quickly.

Papyrus shut his eyes tight as a puff of dust coated the bloodied victor. The crowd went wild, as did the announcer. Papyrus desperately wanted to go home and never leave. He was crying, in pain, and covered in another monster’s blood. He was having a panic attack.

==========

Sans rubbed his head, he had to call someone. That’s what the police said, and as much as he didn’t like it, it made the most sense to spend time with friends. He decided it would be best if he called up Alphys and Undyne, they were in the same timezone and honestly the closest friends he had. Skype rang a couple times before he gave up and just typed them a message.

‘hey call me when you get a chance. paps still missing and the police suggested i talk to someone rn.’

He thought that sounded too harsh after he sent it.

‘lol’

Perfect.

“C’mon Paps, walk through that door right now and stop all this.” he whispered, looking at the entryway.

Nothing. Goddammit. Well it was worth a shot. He turned on the TV and flicked through the channels, looking for something cheesy and mindless. He found something, but it was on the commercial, so he got up to get something to eat. While in the kitchen he saw the sandwich he had made earlier and sighed, he grabbed up an ice cream bar out of the freezer and the bottle of whiskey he hid in an old bag of Funyuns. He was going to forget his troubles, alright.

He raised the bottle in the air and shouted “to oblivion.”

Sans plopped onto the couch and chugged the bottle, crying. He shoved the entire ice cream bar into his mouth at once. He was going to get white girl wasted.  
==========

Papyrus suffered through 3 more matches before he was let out during ‘halftime’. His back was covered in sawdust and blood, and he was shaking. The walls were suffocating, the heat was unbearable, and even the slightest movement nearby caused him to flinch. He knew why Tony was so nonchalant about his lost limbs, he had been lucky to survive at all. It also meant that when he was back in his cage he would be around some very dangerous monsters, and so would be his eventual opponents. Papyrus was scared, he didn’t want to be here, he didn’t want to fight, he didn’t understand why they were fighting, and he didn’t understand why anyone had to die.

He was going to die here.

“Go on, get in.” the transport guy gently poked Papyrus forward.

The skeleton yelped at the unexpected contact, he was zoned out and hadn’t realized they were already back at his cage.

“S-Sorry, I-” Papyrus cut himself off.

He got inside as he was told, and unlatched the leash himself before handing it to the man.

“Hey don’t ever do that again.” the transport guy told Papyrus, hushed and sternly. “If anyone else saw you do that you’d...you’d get in a lot of trouble, ok?”

Papyrus nodded vigorously, slightly wondering what ‘a lot of trouble’ was if what he just got was a minor punishment.

“Good.” the man closed and locked the cage.

The transport guy stepped back and looked around, shadily. He fumbled through a bag behind him and grabbed up a very stale looking piece of bread and snuck away. Papyrus cocked his head, surely there was nobody who cared if he ate something on the job? There was a thunk and rustle of plastic followed by another thunk. The transport guy was back with the bread, only this time it was smaller.

“Here.” he pushed it through the bars, “I figured that after what you’ve been through you deserve at least a little food.”

He had cut the stale bread slice into two and put a slice of prepackaged cheese in between them. 

“Thank you.” Papyrus whispered and gratefully took the meager sandwich.

“Hang in there, man.”


	7. An Effort Reminiscent of Sisyphus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus has a chat with Tony, Sans is drunk, and there's a new deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been a while since I updated this, hopefully this will help fulfill your insatiable need to torture Papyrus.
> 
> -Hey REALLY take a good look at the archive warnings for this chapter-

Papyrus was sitting in the furthest corner of his cell, idly playing with the straw and the dirt. He was desperately trying to block out the cries of the other monsters ringing in his nonexistent ears. He had scarfed down the sandwich, but now he was regretting not saving half for later. It was dumb of him, Undyne had trained him better than that. 

“She would never guess something like this could happen.” he whispered to himself.

He was so tired, not like the tired after a long day of training though. The kind of tired where he just wanted to lay down and never get back up, just let himself dust. No he couldn’t do that, he would have to try, Sans was back home and he needed him. Tony coughed next to him, and Papyrus jumped, he hadn’t realized that his ‘neighbor’ was there.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya.” Tony mumbled.

Papyrus made a motion as if to say ‘don’t worry about it’. They sat back to back for a few silent moments.

“Why do they want us to fight?”

Tony made a strange sound, like a snorty laugh only there was no joy in it. 

“To make money. That’s why humans do anything. Money means power and power is what drives life on the surface. Without power you’re, well, us.” Tony spit.

Papyrus was shaking, he’d be crying if he wasn’t so absolutely done. His ribs felt too tight around his soul, he was suddenly very aware of his environment.

“Who could let this happen?”

“They don’t ask for permission for this. They just do it. Not that the government condones it, if any word got out they’d put a stop to this one. But this is merely one out of an entire empire, if this one got busted then the next one would have more security.” Tony shifted. “It’s pointless to try and stop it.”

Papyrus felt his soul twinge, this wasn’t right. His breathing picked up, what kind of determination sucking pit was this? He felt completely hopeless, now he didn’t know if he wanted out for fear of making it harder on the next group of poor monsters roped into this. He laid down on his side, curling up on himself in an effort to find comfort.

“Do you ever want to dust?” Papyrus asked in a sober tone.

“Everyday, bro.” Tony sighed.

The familiar phrase sent the skeleton over the edge. He curled against the wall, and tried his best to steady his rapid breathing. Tony just sat there, staring at the wall. The desperation would end soon, once the newbie realized that there was no hope of rescue. Hopefully he could dust himself before he had to fight, but he doubted such a valuable monster would be allowed to do that.

Tony glanced over at this new property, and felt an immense sense of sympathy. He was like a little kid separated from his adult. He gently slid his tail against Papyrus’ back.

“I’m so sorry.”

==========

The phone was ringing. Sans was vaguely aware of being alive. Oh wait shit yeah the phone was ringing. He barely propped himself up, nope he wasn’t getting to the phone the traditional way. His attempt at teleporting to the telephone was worthy of a ‘you tried’ sticker, he was about 5 feet away from where he wanted to be. He fell over to the phone, grabbing it on his way down.

He landed with a thud, like he cared.

“hellooo?”

“Sans the Skeleton?”

“yush?”

“Are you drunk?”

“are you my dad?”

“No, it’s Officer Garcia.”

“then it’sh nun uh ya businuss if i’m currently intoxicatud.”

“I suppose not. We have a lead on your brother, and we have a few more questions for you. However if you’re drunk you can’t drive.”

“drive? i dun need ta drive, i got science!”

“Ok well if someone can give you a ride then come on over.”

“aight.”

As soon as the officer hung up, there was Sans in the department. He reeked of various alcohols but was somehow standing. He had a very serious look on his face.

“waddya got?”

“We found some tire marks and our dogs picked up your brother’s scent near them. Does your brother walk down 16th Street?”

“dogs are amazing animuls, we had ‘n entire guard fulla em back in snowdin.” Sans blinked slowly. “oh right, the street thing. yeah he usually jogs down there, the absolute madman.”

“Sir I can tell you’re very drunk. Please go home. Thank you for your information, and if anything else comes up I’ll call you but please go to bed.”

“fuk da police.”

“Excuse me?”

Sans waved with a dumb half smile half grimace across his face and disappeared. He was back at home, next to his bed. Nailed it. Now all he needed to do was, and he fell on top of his bed. He was asleep immediately, with his legs still draped over the side.

==========

“Hey weakling get up, you got a special deal.” Perito called for him.

Papyrus shambled over to the door, hearing that damn click of the leash against his collar. He followed them over to that one room that had water seeping out from underneath it. Perito unlocked the door, to reveal a metal bench inside a concrete closet sized room. 

“Sit.”

Papyrus obeyed and watched as the leash was secured against a pole. They tugged on it to make sure he wouldn’t be able to get away, and tightened it further. Once they were satisfied they turned to him, and handed over a cup with a lid on it. Papyrus unscrewed the top and looked inside, and saw it was empty. He looked up at Perito with his sockets scrunched in confusion.

“What?” Perito barked.

“There’s nothing in it.”

“Not yet there is, get to work.”

Papyrus was still confused.

“Since you can’t seem to fight you’re being studded out.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but Perito took it as he still didn’t understand.

“Listen. You take this.” Perito roughly grabbed his hand, and shoved it against his pelvis. “And rub this until it starts leaking. You collect what comes out in the cup.”

“No.”

“You do this or you have to fight. Either way the boss is getting his investment back.”

Papyrus was sure he didn’t want to fight. Doing...this...was hardly better. It was so crude, and he felt so exposed suddenly. 

“A-alright, just leave and I’ll give it to you once I’m done.”

 

“Uh no, I gotta watch to make sure you’re not pulling any shit.”

Papyrus was not about to jerk himself off in front of someone else. He was about to say as much when Perito lost their patience and bound his wrist to the bench.

“What are you doing?” 

Papyrus was thrashing around, but Perito was countering with some hard punches. They had secured his limbs outward, it was so tight the rope was hurting him. He was trying his best to cover himself up but it was no use, Perito was already working hard to get what the boss wanted. Papyrus closed his eyes and pretended it was someone else this was happening to, there was no way his life had come to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I'm going that way with the story, you didn't think the Rape/NonCon warning was just for the touching in the beginning did you?


	8. Those Who Grow Up Together, Throw up Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok I'd say I'm sorry for this but I'm really not.
> 
> Sans wakes up with a banging hangover, Papyrus is on a wonderful journey of self experience.

Sans woke with a start, he had to vomit. His skull felt like it was going to split open and his legs were screaming at him. With a slam of the door that would surely leave a mark, he barely stumbled to the bathroom in time to unload his gut.

============

Papyrus’ legs were shaking, and his breath was hitching. He could feel that vaguely familiar acid feeling creep up his non existent throat. He was sucking in breath in hopes of relieving it somewhat, but to no avail. His body was betraying him, he leaned to his side to throw up. He shuddered and cursed himself for wasting what little food he got.

============

“ugh, i’m never gettin that drunk again.” Sans promised himself, knowing that it was probably going to get broken.

“pap? you ho-” reality crashed on him like a ton of bricks. “oh r-right.”

He rubbed his face, he could feel the sting of the building tears. The room felt too hot, he ran his hands over the top of hip skull. He supposed that he should drink some water. It’s what Papyrus would tell him, and actually had in the past. 

‘Sans you should be more responsible with your drinking next time!’  
‘nah, i’m good. i got you to take care of everything while i’m sick.’  
‘SANS YOU’RE NOT SICK.’  
‘awright awright, i promise i’ll have one less drink next time.’  
‘I suppose that’s a start. And the time after that you’ll have two less?’  
‘sure paps, but that shouldn’t be for a while so i might forget.’  
‘That’s okay, brother! I will remind you!’

Oh god, he needed to sit down. He shuffled from the fridge to the couch with the pitcher of water and a mug. He stared at the TV for a while, sipping idly, before realizing it wasn’t even turned on. He set down his mug to look around the couch for it. He sighed, where could it have gone? He was losing too much lately, heh it’s dumb to get worked up over a piece of plastic when his brother was missing. There it was in between the cushions, he must have been sitting on it.

He pointed it at the TV and pressed the number 4. It made an unusual boop noise and a dial tone. Wait, this was the phone. 4 new messages?! Sans inhaled sharply and sat up properly, pressing play all messages.

“Hello Mr. The Skeleton. This message is an effort to contact you, regarding your behavior in the office earlier. We understand that you are upset that your brother is missing and that’s why we’re not pressing charges, but that’s no excuse for the language you used. Please call us back once you are...feeling better.”

Shit, what did he do.

“Krrahaosdkf hola rraskh”

Wrong number, deleted.

“H-hello? Sans? This is Alphys. I just got your messages. Y-You don’t sound ok. Do you need to talk to someone? I, uh, I’m pretty much always online, unless I’m working. But! I can m-make an exception since it’s an emergency? Text me when you can ok?”

Goddamnit, messages? He should really remember to put his phone on airplane mode before drinking. He’d have to get back to her after talking to the police. Jeez he was beginning to hate cops more and more.

“Hello Mr. The Skeleton, this is another message in an effort to contact you. I’m very sorry for the constant questioning, and you’ve been a great sport about it, but we need you to come back to the station. Please call us back, we’ll arrange for a car to pick you up if you need to. Please don’t just show up like last time, or at least warn us before doing that. You really shouldn’t startle a man with a gun, heh. Sorry that was bad. Anyways please call us back as soon as you’re feeling better.”

Oh. Ok.

Sans downed a pain pill, then dialed up the police station.

============

Papyrus didn’t feel ok. He felt sick to his stomach, he felt the ghost of those hands, he felt like his couldn’t breathe, and he felt like he was in constant danger.

He was back in his cage, what seemed now more like a refuge than a prison. He tried to dig himself as far underneath the sparse straw as he could, trying to cover as much of his body as possible. Tony had even pushed some in, to help the effort. Everyone could smell what happened to him, and many of the other monsters were throwing jeers at him. They were in another language, but he could tell by the tone what they meant.

He had given up crying at this point. Everything was too much. In whatever amount of time he was there, he couldn’t even tell at this point, he had been broken. He was so dumb for cracking so early, he really was a weakling. He pulled his knees closer. Why couldn’t he just have fought, what was wrong with him? Sans would fight, Undyne would fight, probably even Frisk at this point. He was a coward, meek, yella, small, so so small-

What was that?

Papyrus snapped his head up, looking at the door. There was his scarf. He darted his eyes back and forth, to make sure it wasn’t a trap. He waited a moment. Nothing. He skittered over to it and held it in his hands. It was his scarf, just as it was before all this. No tears, stains or even, he held it up to his nose, well there was barely a scent but it smell closer to a petting zoo than this terrible place. That could be washed out. God how he wished everything that happened to him could be washed out, or even that he could wash. Though, on second thought, he probably didn’t want to be washed here.

He heard a door open down the hallway, or maybe it closed? It didn’t matter. He dove for his pile of dirty hay, trying his best to get small enough to hide behind it. He balled up his hands around his scarf.

His scarf.

*The feeling of your trusty scarf, it fills you with determination

He sent a little thought to Sans, hoping that he would somehow develop telekinesis and be able to tell his brother anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Save....*Return


	9. A Circle is Round, It Has No End, That's How Long I Want To Be Your Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meh ex ee coh
> 
> Lots of police stuff, but i'm sorry you can't skip this chapter. You might be able to skim over some of the more boring bits though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *SAVE

Papyrus must have lost his mind. He thought he heard a voice, it was small but familiar. He couldn’t quite place it. He was so tired, maybe it was a hallucination. He still scanned the room, looking for a familiar face. His eyes picked up a flash, and he immediately turned his attention to it, though there was nothing. He needed to sleep.

==========

Sans was waiting outside the apartment, texting Alphys and glancing over to the street every once in awhile. A police cruiser was supposed to pick him up a couple minutes ago, but he didn’t mind that they were late. God knows how many times he’d been late to something, and that uh thing he must’ve said while he was drunk.

‘I checked the camera feed from the Underground, and he hasn’t been there. Tho there’s signs that someone has been there :’( .’

‘you checked back a couple days?’

‘Yes. The memory stores up 2 a week, and I haven’t seen anything. I’m so sorry.’

‘eh it was worth a shot. thanks.’

‘It’s np. I’m sorry I can’t come out rn, work is really busy. But I can set up a stream so we can watch that movie u like on Netflix.’

‘ye that sounds nice, maybe later tonight?’  
‘OFC. Just text me when u know more about how your night’s going 2 b.’

A police car whipped around the corner, then slowed as it got near.

‘oop. my ride’s here. i’ll text you tonight’

‘K’

The officer leaned down in her seat to make sure this was the guy she was supposed to pick up.   
She unlocked the door and stepped out.

“Hey are you Sans?”

“yeah. thanks for picking me up, i don’t think i’d be able to get to the station without help right now. heh.” 

She nodded understandingly. She knew from the other officers that he really loved his brother, and that they were very close. It’s probably why the skeleton was getting so much slack.

“You want to sit in the front or the back?”

He looked into the front seat and saw the rifle sitting at the ready. He felt his soul jump at the sight of it.

“i’ll sit in the back. always wondered what it was like.”

The officer opened up the door with the keys, she was expecting him to take the front.

“yaknow you remind me of a friend i have a friend up north. she used to be sort of like the police down underground.”

“Oh? Really, why don’t you tell me more about her?”  
-  
The ride was pretty quick, and Sans actually had a nice conversation with the officer. It helped a little with his nerves around law enforcement to hear about them being a regular civilian. He still had to take a deep breath before entering the station. He shook his shoulders, trying to loosen up. Well, it was time to face the music. A little bell rang as he entered, and he went directly to the counter. He tapped on the glass to get the attention of Officer Garcia.

“so, uh, ya got something to tell me?”

“Yes, please come into my office.” Garcia buzzed the door so Sans could enter.

The skeleton had to really push the heavy door to get in, jeez they really didn’t want people in here. He followed the policeman into a small, closet like room that had a neat desk and some pictures on it. Sans didn’t remember seeing this room last time he was here, but then again he was taken to an interrogation room last time. He was immediately suspicious.

“Please, take a seat.” The officer gestured towards a padded desk chair.

Sans paused before sitting down, this didn’t feel right. He sat stock straight, with his hands in his lap.

“I have some...news.”

“good or bad?”

“A little bit of both.”

Sans sighed, preparing himself. Frisk’s promise was ringing in his head, ‘no more resets’.

“lay it on me.”

“Your brother is in Mexico.”

Sans blinked.

“uh, what?”

“Your brother passed over into Mexico in an van with at least two other passengers. We’re in contact with Border Patrol right now, but we won’t know where he when other than a very general city, and even then it would be relying on the honesty of his abductors.”

“where’s mexico?” Sans growled lowly.

The officer bit down on his lip, he was calculating whether or not he should tell this magic being fully capable of taking his soul. He supposed that the skeleton would just look it up once he was able to anyways, so there wasn’t much harm in showing him. He got up and closed his door just in case though.

“Ok, Mexico is the country below us. It’s gigantic. There’s millions of people there. It’s jungle-y in parts too. You’re a scientist right? So you know the metric system?”

Sans was glaring at his hands, he nodded.

“The area of Mexico is” he googled it to make sure, “almost 2 million square kilometers.”  
Sans was shaking, he had to find him, he just had to.

“Don’t lose hope though, your brother is bound to stand out. We catch regular joes there all the time, the process should be even quicker in this case. We’re just waiting for Border Patrol to confirm, then we’ll contact the FBI who will pick up the case from there. It’s an international problem at that point, and that’s out of our jurisdiction.”

“i want to go home.”

“That’s perfectly fine. I’m sorry to bring you down here, but I didn’t want to leave that on a message. If you have any questions, I’ll be glad to answer them.”

“nah. i’m just gonna go home now, if that’s ok?”

“Sure, I’ll-”

Sans had just enough energy to teleport back to the apartment. No. No, no, no. He was lost forever. 2 MILLION square kilometers?! MILLION. He could barely grasp the concept of something that big. The surface was too big. His brother was out there somewhere in 2 MILLION shitting square kilometers.

Sans was crumpled in the middle of the living room with his phalanges grasping at his skull. He was gripping hard enough that if he had skin, it would be bleeding. It might even leave a bruise on his bone. He didn’t care, it was just a passing thought. Let it crack. Let it crack into little itty bitty tiny pieces. He needed a smoke.

He fumbled around underneath the couch for a cigarette, he’d quit years ago but he had to. He needed something. There was nothing.

“shit.” 

Sans scratched his brow in frustration. He’d have to go out and get some more. He bumped his head against the coffee table while standing up. It didn’t really hurt, or maybe it did, he couldn’t tell. He wandered over to the key dish, and grabbed up his set on the way out. He was barely even thinking about where he was going, and tripped on something.

“Hey watch where you’re going Trashbag.”

Sans flipped over as quickly as he could, he recognized that tone and insult. His expression flashed from shock to anger.

“flowey…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Bet you thought I would be satisfied with staying underground huh?"


	10. To Quote Rocky Horror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flowey give the low down to Sans, and what's the deal with Papyrus?

“You didn’t honestly think I’d be content with staying in the Underground did you? When the rest of you were having all the fun up here?” Flowey laughed, “You must be more stupid than I thought.”

 “what are you doing here?” Sans growled.

 “Hey now, don’t get all riled up. I’ve...turned over a new leaf, as you would say. How are you holding up?”

 Sans was silent.

 “It must be tough getting around without your brother. You know, he isn’t doing too well without you either.”  
Sans grasped flowey by the stem, he was not in the right state of mind for these kind of games.

 “i swear to god, you better tell me where my bro is or i’ll, i’ll.”

 “Really? You’d kill the only person who knows where he is? That would be a great move idiot.” Flowey smirked, “Now let go of my stem and I’ll explain everything.”

 Although Sans didn’t want to admit it, he had a point. He begrudgingly let go, and sat down with a glare.

 “That’s much better. Now, I assume you know approximately where he is, considering how much time you’ve spent in the police department.”

 “you-”

 “Shut up” Flowey scolded, “However, I know exactly where your brother is. There was a save point created in a place called Tijuana, Mexico and of course I needed to check that out because I’ve only known of three people who can do that. Well, apparently Papyrus can do it too.”

 “how can he? i thought…” Sans’ mind was moving to fast to come up with words.

 “Yeah I thought too, but I guess those who lose all determination then get a huge spike of it can save.”

 “does this mean he could reset?”

 “That’s the tricky part, since this was his first save that’s the beginning of his file. And at this point, if Frisk or I try to reset we’ll be sent back to the beginning because he overwrote our current save, that’s assuming that it didn’t create a sub-game and a true reset won’t just set us back to this new save point. It might’ve even triggered an event so that any subsequent reset will just careen towards this outcome.”

 Sans rubbed his face roughly, god this was so much worse. This was far worse than anything he could’ve imagined.

 “Now wouldn’t that be true hell for him? To experience everything he’s gone through over and over, remembering everything. While Frisk, or I, frantically try to stop it from happening?”

 “stop it!” Sans shouted.

 “Sorry, old habits die hard...sorry.” Flowey looked like was was honestly trying not to be an asshole.

 “why are you even telling me this?”

 “Because I actually care about Papyrus and I can’t do anything to rescue him.” Flowey mumbled.

 “really? mr. scrublord can’t cheat his way into saving his only true friend?”

 “Hey, watch it buddy. You’re lucky I can’t do anything or I wouldn’t be here.” Flowey sniped, “I’m only strong enough in this form to take on LV 1 humans, and these people are so much higher. Heck, some of them have even killed other humans, imagine the EXP you’d get from doing that?”

 “humans...killing other humans? what are they doing-where the hell is he?”

 “Well humans like some crazy stuff, as you know. Remember when Frisk had that genocide run?”

 “vaguely.”

 “Humans do that kind of thing for fun.” Flowey paused, “But generally up here on the surface the average person wouldn’t be killing others. No, most are too cowardly to do that. They’ll settle for hurting what they consider lesser beings like animals, or now monsters. And, in Papyrus’ case, they’ll step even further back and let them fight each other instead of doing the deed themselves.”

 “humans-”

 “They do it for money too.”

Sans could barely process what Flowey was saying, all he knew was anger in that moment. He needed to find his brother. How dare someone take Papyrus, then force him to fight. His brother wouldn’t kill, especially not for other’s entertainment.

 “where, exactly, in tijuana is he?”

 “In some kind of old abandoned warehouse. I don’t remember the street address, and there’s quite a few on that particular block. That shouldn’t be much of a problem for you because you’ve got that teleportation cheat, right? He’s in an underground loading zone type thing, in the second cage down from the arena. He’s the only skeleton.”

 “i can’t believe i’m saying this, but thank you flowey.” Sans sighed and stood up.

 “Like I said, I’m trying to be a good guy now. See you later.” Flowey shrugged, before disappearing back into the dirt.

 Well, time to look at a map to find out where his brother was, and break him the hell out.

 

==========

 

The transport guy was back, and this time he was rounding up a couple very strong looking monsters. Papyrus buried his scarf underneath the pile of straw he’d made as he approached. He stopped at his door and knocked.

 “Hey, you too.” the transport guy said sternly.

 “No, no I made a deal I wasn’t supposed to fight.” Papyrus scrambled to the back wall.

 “I guess the deal expired, c’mon let’s go.” he obviously didn’t want to do it as much as the skeleton. “Don’t make me come in there and get you out by force.”.

 Well if he was going to dust, he might as well dust with his scarf. He retrieved it and tied it on before defeatedly shuffling over to the gate and offered his collar for the leash. The transport guy unlocked the cage and tugged for Papyrus to follow him. He trudged along on the outside of the pack of monsters, checking them as he walked. Jeez they had a lot of LV, he hoped whoever he was going to fight didn’t. Maybe they’d spare him if they were as new to this as he was.

 The transport guy brought them into the arena, and Papyrus’ breathing increased immensely. He put each one into a waiting cell, by LV. Papyrus followed with shaky steps until he was the last one, and there was a single cell left to fill. He whimpered as he was led and locked inside. Just like the last time he was there, he kept his back turned, but he still felt like someone was there.

 “Go to the back, to the other door, and knock.” it was the transport guy.

 He agreed, and he could hear the transport guy leave. Papyrus hadn’t seen another door the last time he was in a cell like this, so it took him a second to find it. He knocked, and suddenly the door swung open, it made the skeleton jump. The transport guy hastily removed his scarf and collar, and looped the leash around his neck, making a makeshift collar. He gave Papyrus back his scarf, making a motion for him to put it back on. He complied.

 “Ok pretend you’re sick.”

 Papyrus understood, and let himself vomit. The transport guy looked vaguely surprised, but kept going.

 “When I get to the end of the hallway you’re gonna have to move fast. Once you’re on the street don’t run right. Go left and into the first kicked down door you can. Don’t try opening anything or crawling in between boards, you’ll want a clean escape route. Are you ready?”

 Papyrus nodded, and followed the transport guy out of the cell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I'm coming home."
> 
> OOH WE'RE GETTING CLOSE TO THE END


	11. The Thrilling Conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter in this epic tale (it's the longest thing I've ever wrote at a whopping 37 pages on google docs).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might make this into a comic eventually, it would be nice to give people the option to read or see the story play out.

“Not that I’m not grateful or anything, but why are you doing this?” Papyrus whispered, they were going around the arena through a ‘backstage’ tunnel.

“It’s okay I understand why you’d be suspicious. Part of my duties here is to eliminate costly or weak monsters, but I’ve been setting them free instead. They’ve caught on to me though, so I’m going out with a bang.” the transport guy explained.

Papyrus wasn’t sure what to say, he felt like apologizing and screaming thanks until his voice was gone.

“How did a human like you get into-” Papyrus fell silent as they passed through a set of doors back to the cages.

The skeleton’s legs seemed to want to give out on him, but he kept going. Hopefully escape would be easier with the fight or flight instincts Undyne had told him about. He made a silent plea to himself that he was more the flight type than the fight. There was a loud thunking coming from down the hall when the transport guy turned to Papyrus suddenly.

“Stay still.”

Papyrus stood stalk still, with his arms flush with his sides. The transport guy reared back and punched him square in the chest. If he’d had lungs, Papyrus would’ve had the wind knocked out of them, instead it just merely brought down his HP to...an 1/8th of a single hit point?! Oh jeez he must’ve been falling down, no no no. Papyrus was shivering when Perito stomped into view.

“Hey what’d I tell you about it’s fight today?” Perito motioned to Papyrus.

“I’m very sorry but there’s no way he can fight like this. He’d practically dust from just stepping into the ring.”

Papyrus felt Perito check him, he it was a weird crawling sensation instead of the normal ticklish ping. He crossed his arms around his ribs in an effort to avoid feeling so exposed.

“Alright, yeah. But heal em up quick, that fight’s happening today no matter what.” Perito warned before continuing down the hall. The transport guy doubled his walking speed, nearly running into the ‘clinic’ which was essentially a walk in pantry with an examination table pressed against one wall. He forced a candy bar into Papyrus’ hands while grabbing up a couple tortillas and told him to hide them into his scarf if he could. He did a final check on Papyrus, noting that his HP was nearly full, it would have to do.

The transport guy poked his head out the door, making sure he didn’t see or hear anyone in the immediate area. He ducked back in and rushed to get the leash and ‘collar’ from the skeleton’s neck to gently balancing on his shoulder.

“Ok, we’re two doors down from the exit. I’m going to pretend you’re still attached and when I bump my arm into your leg you turn around and run towards the door with paint peeling off of it.”

“...Thank you.”

“No problem. I would hope someone would do the same for me.”

“How did you get here?”

“I’m officer Steven Garcia, FBI.”

If it were under better circumstances, Papyrus would be in awe but he was more concerned with the current threat.

“Are you going to be ok?”

“I’ll be fine. You just go once I tell you to.”

Steve checked one more time before slowly opening the door and motioned for Papyrus to follow.They calmly walked out of the pantry, and were starting to go back towards the arena when he gave the signal. Papyrus whipped around and flew towards the correct door, which was mercifully a straight shot. Turns out he had more flight than fight after all.

*(Feeling the door open and the heat of the afternoon on your bones, it fills you with determination)

==========

Sans had scrambled to figure out where tijuana was, and where these abandoned buildings might be. He spotted an area on his phone’s map, and made a quick calculation before teleporting. He’d landed a little further off than he would’ve liked but it didn’t matter. He was jumping between buildings, blipping into existence for just long enough to see if there was any trace of his brother before moving onto the next one. Then he felt it.

A save.

He guessed approximately where it was and managed to pop exactly next to the point. He startled a very frazzled looking young man and a much older man behind him.

“Who the hell are you?!” the younger one yipped.

Before the other human could say anything Sans turned them both blue, and held them against the ground. His glare could kill them alone, as he stepped towards the old human. Sans pressed him down to meet his gaze, eyes wild with rage and a twisted grin wrenched across his face. 

“what did you do to my brother and don’t even try to lie. i can smell that he was here and he was scared out of his skull.”

==========

Papyrus did as he was told, he ran out the door, towards the lights and to the left. Although the transport guy, Steven, made it seem like there were many kicked down doors, he hadn’t seen one yet that he’d be able to fit through. He was nearly at the end of the block when he saw a window that he could climb into easily enough, and jumped into it, smashing what was left of the pane yet only giving him a couple scratches. His first instinct was to go somewhere dark to hide, but it would be next to impossible to cover the glow of his soul with how fast it was beating right then.

He decided to bury himself into a pile of rubble about the same color as his bones, and wait for nightfall. In the meantime, he tried to steady his breathing and slow his soul. It was very dusty and old smelling in the building, as well as falling apart, but thankfully he didn’t have lungs or the need to cough. He quietly checked himself, his HP was nearly full at...4. Papyrus began quietly laughing, it wouldn’t stop so he did his best to soften the sound with his hands and scarf. This must’ve been why Sans had a single hit point. He knew his brother had always had a lower HP but, this was something else. He was going to die here, a few minutes’ run from salvation. Well, if he was going out he might as well have a full bar.

Papyrus healed himself, the full hitpoint, and tried to shift into a more comfortable position. What terrible mistake had he made that led him to this? Surely...surely it wasn’t the humans’ fault? He’d met plenty of humans and they all were quite nice, of course some yelled at him but he liked to yell too. Perhaps they hadn’t learned the proper capture technique? Oh who was he fooling, this must be how all humans really are. This must be the reason why Asgore wanted them all killed. This is why his brother never wanted him to see the human without him, to protect him. 

Frisk just hadn’t done this because there was a higher payout to keeping him alive.

==========

“S-so you-”

“shut up.” Sans barked, “unless that sentence was going to end in ‘or brother is safe.’ i don’t wanna hear it.”

There was a scraping sound right behind sans, he whipped his head around just in time to see Perito grab him in an immobilizing hold. Sans growled, summoned a line of blasters, and fired them off without hesitation. Perito’s arms dropped and they collapsed onto the floor in a severely burned, but still living, heap.

“listen, i’m not one to kill without needing to, unlike you...i dunno if i should even call you people. so let’s cut to the chase, where is my brother.”

“I don’t know, but he’s not here.” the youngest human shouted.

Sans’ face contorted into a snarl, he didn’t have the patience to deal with this. Not with his headache.

“do any of you know which direction he went in?” 

“Yes, I-I told him to run out that door,” he gestured with his eyes “and go to the left.”

Sans softened a bit, he un-blued the human. He scrambled up to his feet, and backed away a few steps from the skeleton. 

“Could you please keep them like that a few more minutes? I need to do something.” he pleaded.

Sans thought about it, then agreed. The young man ran off down the hallway and the sounds of old gates opening cut throughout the building. He ran back into the room with a large set of keys in hand, and was hurriedly unlocking all the doors to the cages.

“Ok, everyone follow me!” he called, and several very beat up looking monsters barreled through the hall, towards sans.

Sans jumped and ran towards the human as well, getting a few seconds start before the herd, but they caught up with him quickly. He was near the end of the pack, along with an old ferret-like monster without arms. He wondered for a moment if he was related to that monster kid in Snowdin. Once they hit street level, a group of heavily armed policemen directed the monsters to a safety area. Sans paused for a moment, and looked to the young man.

“you said to the left, right?”

“Yes, that way.” he pointed.

“thank you.”

Sans turned towards where his brother was and stopped. He lifted the blue from the other humans, not that it really mattered anymore. Sans teleported into the next building over, called for Papyrus, waited for a response, then moved to the next building, and continued that way down the block.

==========

Papyrus cocked his head, he thought he heard his name. Oh shoot they were looking for him. In a panic, he made himself lower to the ground. They were getting closer. It almost sounded like...Sans?

“papyrus? where are you bro?”

“Sans? Sans!” Papyrus screamed from his rocks, poking his head out.

He’d heard it. Sans popped into existence right before Papyrus, making the taller skeleton jump. Sans started crying, and wrapped his arms around Papyrus’ head. Papyrus was unsure of what to say first, there were so many things he wanted to and they were all jumbling together.

“Don’t worry, it’s not just my head.” 

Sans chuckled mirthlessly.

“good. i’m glad.” Sans mumbled, “let’s get the hell out of here.”  
Sans stepped back and Papyrus writhed in his pile.

“I’m stuck.”

Papyrus pushed his shoulders against a wall of the pile, and kicked his legs out. The movement jostled it enough that the pile crumbled around him, freeing everything but his legs. Sans helped Papyrus up, and teleported back home. Sans accidentally put them in the air above the couch, and they both fell onto it with a shout and a yelp. They looked at each other and Papyrus started giggling uncontrollably, and Sans joined in. Papyrus grabbed Sans up into a bone crushing hug, and the giggles turned to tears.

“I didn’t think I was ever going to see you again.”

“me too.”

“I haven’t eaten anything, well technically I did eat once but I threw it up. I’m going into the kitchen. Do you want anything?”

“no i’m good, but thank you.” Sans thought it was strange that Papyrus was just picking up where things left off. Oh shit the sandwich, “wait, hold on paps.”

Papyrus was standing completely still, jaw slightly agape, staring at the cheese sandwich that had been left out on the counter for god knows how long. Sans reached out to touch Papyrus’ arm comfortingly but he recoiled as if he’d been hit.

“actually, you know what? i’ll make you some food.” Sans stumbled for words. “how about some oatmeal?”

Papyrus looked dazed.

“Yes, thank you. That would be nice.” he mumbled.

“alright, just sit back on the couch and i’ll bring it to you when it’s done.”

Papyrus nodded and sat down within view of Sans, and brought his legs to his bare ribs. He was going to need help recovering from this, and Sans was willing to do whatever it took.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you to everyone who has read this. Whether it be just a little bit before you clicked out or if you've read its entirety. You took a chance on me, and for that I will be grateful. Every kudos gave me the boost I needed to continue, and every comment has made my day. This was my first attempt at fanfiction and I think it was pretty successful! I've never really written anything for fun, as I'm mostly a visual artist, but this was a nice change of pace.
> 
> This ending was a bit of trouble, trying to find a good ending for when they finally did come home. It's almost like the story didn't want to be done. I might do an epilogue thing eventually, but don't really count on it. 
> 
> Anyways, thank you for coming along this journey with me. And thank you to future readers who come across this finished work, you're appreciated as well! <3


End file.
